Shadows of the Night
by FlowerOwl
Summary: Perhaps it was only a dream, woven into his mind by everything they had been through. To Link, however, it was so much more than that. It was a sign, a voice telling him that, no matter what would come, he would remain at her side.


The first time it happened, the first time Link was pulled out of his dreams by the sound of Zelda fending off a non-existent enemy, he found himself forced to come face to face with the sudden realisation that he did not know what to do.

It should perhaps not have come as a surprise to him—after all, for practically all of their lives, it had been Zelda who would be the one to wake him up in the morning—but as he lay there, feeling how the panic of seeing her squirm next to him, bringing her arms up in front of her, almost like she tried to protect herself from the enemies, made him unable to do much more than to look, having found himself completely frozen the moment he had first opened his eyes after she had kicked him in the shin, Link could not help but wonder if this would ever end.

In a way, it felt almost unjust, how they had first been pulled into a destiny far greater than themselves, a soul of a past goddess having awoken inside Zelda, making it so that she was taken to the Surface, only for him to be given the same destiny as he attempted to find and save her in time, making it so that they now found themselves forced to admit that, while they might have saved the world, the threat and the promise Demise had made with his dying breath would not allow them to live a simple life.

However, no amount of bitterness rising up to meet the thoughts of the fate they had been given would help Zelda right then, and so, Link shoved the thoughts of how there had once never been the need for this away, locking it in a little box in the back of his mind, to instead reach out and carefully, slowly, place his hand on her shoulder, praying that her dreams would not simply interpret the touch as another enemy. "Zelda," he whispered into the dark, and as the hushed sound of her name was only answered with a muffled whimper, Zelda twisting around, making his hand fall back against the mattress underneath them in the process, Link tried again, a bit louder this time, "Zelda."

Once more, Link reached out to try to call her back to reality, unsure of what exactly he planned to do, only knowing that she was centimetres away from rolling of the edge of the bed. But in that second, just as he had been about to try to shake her awake, Zelda moved, bringing her hand up to shove him away, but only achieving the result that he found her gripping his hand so tightly that he was barely able to supress a startled scream at the last moment before gravity seemed to shift around him. Unlike how it had always pulled him towards the ground, necessitating his Loftwing to come and catch him in time, it was now pulling him towards Zelda, and although everything he had ever known said that it should simply have resulted in him falling of the bed as Zelda moved again, that was not what happened.

No, rather than experiencing the familiar sensation of falling through the air with nothing to stop him, the world almost seemed to twist around him, the colours of the dimly lit bedroom in the tiny house they had built during the past year twirling in front of his eyes until Link had no other choice but to close his eyes if he did not want to feel ill. But even then, even as he found himself having to fight to resist the urge to open his eyes and catch a glimpse of what was happening, he could still feel how the world had not stopped spinning, how, rather than the two of them hitting the floor, it seemed that he and Zelda continued to fall, the seconds lasting for far longer than what he was used to until he could barely hear the sound of his own heartbeat through it, could feel how the blood slowed in his veins as they were pulled through time and space with only Zelda's hands in his, their fingers intertwined, to act as an anchor, keeping him from floating away.

Zelda.

Although Link did not dare to open his eyes, he could still feel how she was right there in front of him, picture how her hair would whip around her face as they were pulled though the void. As long as she was there, as long as Zelda was safe, then they could figure out the rest.

It was the moment he allowed himself to find peace in the comfort of knowing that they would at least not be separated again, that, this time, he would not let go of her hand, that the wind around him came to a halt, bringing an eerie silence to the air around him once more, the relief of knowing that it was finally over only lasting until he felt how they made contact with a surface that was definitely not their bed, the sensation of landing unceremoniously on the grass almost forcing all air to leave his lungs.

At once afraid of what he would see when he opened his eyes, but with the thought of not knowing what had happened to them seeming even more frightening, Link allowed himself a second to try to regain his ability to breathe before he opened his eyes and found himself looking up at the crown of a tree, the green leaves leaving a bit of the blue sky above them visible, allowing the sunlight to reach him. However, no matter the beauty of the sight, it was not enough to calm his heartbeat as Link sat up, at once acutely aware of how this was not a place he had ever seen before. The trees above him were too green, too lush, revealing a sky that was untouched by even a single cloud. Despite how he would have loved to be able to fool himself into believing that he was wrong, Link knew that he was not in Faron Woods. This place, it was something else entirely.

Standing up, already halfway reaching for his sword before he realised how he had not thought about grabbing it when Zelda had first pulled him in, too preoccupied with his worries about her, Link tried not to allow the fact that the air around him seemed like it almost made him feel lighter, removing the pain the scars that still decorated his skin would so often bring him, to make him let down his guard. For, although the feeling of finally being able to walk without feeling how the nerves in his legs would still interpret even the slightest electrical impulse as a sign that he had returned to the Lanayru Desert was glorious, if there was one thing he had learnt during his quest to find Zelda, it was that first impressions could be deceiving. Even the friendliest of smiles could be meant to hide evil. A frightening appearance could really just be a way for a friend to hide.

And so, he pushed himself off the ground, already feeling how his body instinctively knew what to do, bringing his hands up in front of his face as Link dared to, for a fraction of a second, split his attention between their surroundings and Zelda.

She was still lying on the ground, her hair fanned out around her face as she rested on a little patch of moss amidst all the grass. Perhaps he should have been worried, should have moved to attempt to shake her awake, to tell her that she had to get up and prepare herself for an attack, but Link could not find it in him to disturb her, not when a single glance had been enough to reveal how the pained expression that had otherwise decorated her face was gone, having instead been replaced by a peaceful smile. It would have been best—it would have been wisest—to wake her, but in that moment, Link could simply not make himself take that little smile away from her, so, as reckless as it was to assume that he would be able to defend them both from the entity that had first brought them there, he stepped forward, putting enough distance between himself and Zelda to allow him to fight while still not being enough to make it so that he would not be able to keep an eye on her through it all.

It was as he stood like that, the adrenaline flowing through his veins making him feel slightly drunk with the same sense of fear and loss that had first made him follow Fi when she had appeared after Zelda had fallen to the Surface, that Link first heard the voice.

Echoing past him, the trees around him reflecting the melodic voice, it almost seemed to beckon him, to tell him to step forward.

But he could not walk away from Zelda, he could not leave her alone, not like this, not when they had both been pulled into the world that Link was slowly starting to suspect was not entirely real, and so, he let his voice drop to a growl as he tried to decide the source of the voice before settling for simply turning towards the tall tree that towered up next to them. "Show yourself! I am not afraid of you, and nothing you can say will make me leave her!"

For a second, the only response he received was the sound of the wind brushing past the leaves of the trees, creating the same song that had filled Faron Woods when Link had collapsed to the ground after having gone three days without sleeping once, the same lullaby that had first allowed him to find peace, to fall asleep for the first time since Zelda had been brought to the surface. And although Link tried his best to remain alert, he could not deny that the song had not lost its effect on him, making his body feel a bit heavier, bringing an almost eerie glow to the world around him as he took a fumbling step forwards, hoping that, if he only remained standing, then he would be able to fend off the whispering command for him to relax.

And then he saw it. At first, the glow that illuminated the forest around him could perhaps have been explained as simply being the result of the strangely green colour of the threes around him combining with the bright light streaming down from above them, but as the silvery light began to flow through the air, the tendrils twisting around outside the little glade where Link found himself taking a step towards Zelda, already trying to decide if he would be able to carry her and flee from the light, it soon became apparent that it was not something that could have been caused by something as simple as the trees around him.

"I will not let you harm her!" Link called out, twirling around to not let the light get the chance to move past him.

But once more, he did not get any answer. There was no sarcastic laughter, no one stepped out from behind a tree to reveal how they were there to make another attempt at bringing back Demise. Instead, the light from the sun in the sky above him almost seemed to dim, allowing the silvery tendrils to cast a gentle glow upon them, making it so that Zelda almost seemed to shine.

With his heart in his throat, Link nodded to himself, already having come to terms with how it might not be possible for him to save them both. He would simply have to try his best to defend Zelda for as long as possible and then pray to the goddess, hoping that Zelda would hear his plea for her to awaken and save herself.

"There will be no need for that." the voice echoed through the glade, almost appearing to envelop him as Link refused to let the melodic ring of the voice grab him, to let him forget about the promise he had made to himself the moment he had first woken up to find that the tornado that had made Zelda fall had not simply been a dream. However, despite how he tried to fight it, Link could already feel how the harmonies that seemed to be present in the sound, the voice at once sounding like it was a thousand whispers that created a single chorus while still being firm, commanding, and alone, made his heartbeat slow a little as it continued. "I am not here to harm you."

It would have been so simple to allow himself to become entranced by the voice, to allow it to sweep over him, painting a smile on his face, but the thought of how Zelda was still asleep on the ground next to him granted him the strength to remain wary of the voice and the light that was slowly appearing to move towards the opposite side of the glade, twirling around, the long strings of light weaving out and around each other as Link gestured towards Zelda. "And what about her?"

"She is perfectly fine." somehow there was such conviction behind the words, an edge of a laugh that Link could only describe as being like the one Zelda had sent him the day before when he had surprised her by having found the time to bake her favourite cake without her noticing, that it made a strange sense of calmness echo through his mind, for a moment dispelling the fear of what was to come. "Your Zelda will wake up the moment you return back to your own world, but right now, she has to remain focused to allow the two of you to stay here."

Instantly, the implications of how he had been right when he had suspected that they were further away from the little house they had spent months building next to where the courtyard had been returned to its rightful place as an extension of the Temple of Hylia than he could have imagined made his heartbeat speed up a little again, but the next moment, the words about how Zelda had been the one to bring them there, how she was only asleep because she had to keep them there, brought back the anger once more.

As he took half a step back, lowering his centre of gravity, readying himself to give them the moment of surprise by attacking first, Link glared towards where the light was slowly beginning to melt together, gradually losing its undefinable shape. "How can I trust you when you could simply have decided to lie to me to keep me from finding out about how you are really the one who is to blame for us being here? How do I know that you haven't done something to make her fall asleep?"

The voice seemed far more subdued—more human, Link realised before forcing himself to redirect his attention towards the light—as it once more filled the glade. "Oh, I believe that it would not be entirely truthful to claim that I am not also part of the reason for her being asleep. But while you might still attempt to be on your guard, I can see in your soul that you already know the reason for that."

She was right. Already before the light grew in intensity, the sight of it leaving him with no other choice than to look away, Link had an inkling of an idea about whom he would see the moment the light receded, but despite how he had been so sure that he was prepared for the sight he would see as he looked back up, he could still not keep back a little, surprised gasp.

In front of him stood a woman clad in pure light, her dress almost seeming to be alive, floating around her. And still, although there was a trace of something otherworldly on her face, as he looked into her eyes, Link could see how the smile she sent him, warm, safe, and so familiar that it made the fear subside, was the exact same smile Zelda would greet him with after a long day, holding the promise of, for a moment, letting them forget about everything else.

"You are—" he whispered, unable to from the words, still halfway not believing that what he was seeing was not just a strange dream, "you are…"

She smiled at him, and although Link should really have known better than to let something as small as that let him lower his guard, he could still feel the relief wash over him, making it so that he could finally breathe freely again as she nodded at him. "Yes," she said. While he could still hear a hint of the same melodious voice from before, it was Zelda's voice that met him as she moved towards him, "I am the part of Hylia's consciousness that was buried inside of her mind, waiting for the right time to awaken."

Despite how he knew that she was right, knew that the familiarity and softness of her voice, the way she reached out to take his hand with him responding not by growling and gesturing for her to move away but by instead clutching her hand, was not something anyone would be able to imitate, Link could not believe what he was seeing. If this woman really was the part of Hylia that had been brought back by Zelda when she had bathed in the springs, then why had she not revealed herself to him before now? What had made her decide that she would pull him in now, after an entire year had passed since he had finally been able to make the decision to stay on the Surface with Zelda?

"You must be confused," Hylia said, the sound of her voice once more breaking through the silence making him jerk slightly, "and I do understand that. Trust me, when I first woke up, lying on the ground without any memories of my previous life, I did not know what I should do as well or why I felt a strange pull towards something unknown. All I knew was that, somehow, if I did not do anything, all those I loved would die and my home would be destroyed. So although I had not yet realised how heavy my destiny would be, I knew that I had no other choice than to trust the old woman I met at the Sealed Grounds."

"Are… are you saying…?" he could not bring himself to finish the sentence, not when he had seen first-hand what had happened to Zelda the moment she had accepted the task of having to visit the springs, how she had only barely managed to avoid Ghirahim at first before both Link and Ghirahim had caught up with her and Impa at the Temple of Time.

"That you have been reborn like your Zelda is the goddess reborn as a mortal?" Hylia finished the question for him, before a small shrug sent ripples through her hair and dress. "Not quite. I was fully reborn with my memories and powers merely supressed by the process of allowing my soul to live on after I had shed my divinity to protect my people." for a moment, Link could almost recognise the same loving look Zelda had sent him when he had sent his Loftwing away to stay with her on the Surface in the goddess' eyes, but it was gone the next moment, instead replaced with an expression not unlike a frown, making it seem almost like the light around her dimmed a bit as she averted her gaze. "You however… there are certain laws that even I cannot change no matter how much it pains me to find myself with no other choice but to watch as the humans I had sworn to protect meet their fates one by one. I can bend reality to my will, but I cannot change the foundation this world rests on."

Link knitted his brows, and although it seemed almost rude to ask her the question, he still cocked his head, all thoughts of how there might still be a threat in the forest around them, waiting for the right moment to attack, momentarily forgotten. "But how does that explain…" he waved, hoping that she would understand how he was not merely referring to the strange place, although that itself was a mystery, "all of this?"

He could see how Hylia hesitated, carefully choosing her words as she slowly began to explain. "When Skyloft was first created, when Demise first tried to claim the power of the Triforce for himself, I knew that I would need the help of a mortal if I wanted to be able to save the few who had survived the initial attacks. And so, I reached back into time, making it so that the soul of the hero had awoken, allowing him to aid me. I—I used my powers to manipulate time, but, of course, it is not that simple—after all, time has a habit of undoing any changes made to it, and in the end, the hero did die. He died because I had changed his past, making it so that he would be able to wield the same sword you used to defeat Demise."

As Hylia looked back at him, Link could not ignore the feeling of how she let her gaze linger on him for a moment longer than what he had expected, the feeling of how he had her full, undivided attention sending shivers down his back as he looked back up at her. "So you…?"

"Yes." a sad smile tugged at the corners of Hylia's lip. "I knew that the seal that held Demise would not last forever, and I knew that, in my current, weakened state, I would not be able to defend the land a second time. I had to be reborn as a mortal. I had to bridge the human soul I would then possess and my divinity if I wanted to be able to keep you safe. But the hero, he had always been meant to die that day, I had only slowed the process when I interfered with the past and made it so that, rather than dying as Demise's monsters would reach him, he would fall with the Master Sword. Still, that knowledge did not do much to lessen the guilt of knowing how I had robbed him of the normalcy he could otherwise have enjoyed in his childhood, how I had allowed him to languish in a cell for years. So although I can now see that it would have been far more merciful to allow him to find rest, I used the very last of my strength to tie his life to mine so that we would be reborn together. I had intended for it to only last a single cycle, making it so that we would only have to defeat Demise before we would be free to live a human life, but of course, you know what happened. You know what Demise did."

Her tone of voice did not imply a question, and yet, as Link felt how the air seemed to shift around them, he knew how she waited for his response, for him to acknowledge what she was saying. And, though she might be dressed in light, he could still see Zelda underneath it all, so he nodded. "He cursed us, made our lives intertwine."

Hylia sent him a long gaze, the silence lasting for so long that Link was halfway expecting for her to tell him how that was not the case when she finally spoke again. "He did. I had intended for the two of us to be reborn once before finally dying, but now, our souls will never be able to find rest. Every time Demise will be reborn, so will we. We will never be able to move on, never gain peace, and while Demise is partly to blame for that, I cannot deny that I was the one who made it so that he could reach into the threads of reality to tie our fates together. I cannot apologise enough for what I have done, not only by making it so that you had no other choice but to aid me in your first life, but by also allowing Demise to curse you."

As Link took in the sight of how Hylia almost seemed to grow smaller with every word, no longer towering up in front of him, instead appearing to barely be taller than Zelda, he did not see the goddess, someone who had been able to move reality to allow herself to be reborn along with the hero. Instead, he saw his best friend, the person for whom he had been willing to travel to the Surface, to go through forests, to climb volcanoes, and to make his way through the desert, doing it all to make sure that she would be safe.

In hindsight, perhaps reaching out to place his hand on her shoulder had been a bad idea. She was a goddess, after all, and despite how she had appeared in front of him, willing to talk with him, Link had no way of knowing whether or not it was appropriate, but in that moment, all he could think about was how this was Zelda, and that he had to make sure that she would not have a reason to cry, so he moved almost without thinking about it, simply doing his best to console her. "Hey," he whispered, only vaguely aware of how he was talking to a goddess, "it is all right, I can understand it."

"Can you?" there was something in Hylia's eyes, something ancient that told him the answer to that question. "Do you understand what fate you will meet now because of my selfish decision to let your soul follow mine as I was reborn? Because you will never be able to die, not fully at least—a little part of you will continue to live, hidden in your next life, making it so that, while you may be spared from having to remember every second of your life, part of you will not be able to move on from the last time the cycle repeated."

She moved closer towards him, and in that moment, as she grew taller in front of him, his hand falling back to rest against his sides as she gripped his shoulders, her eyes glowing as the sun above them seemed to die, Link understood the full extent of the curse Demise had placed upon him and Zelda.

For when he looked into her eyes, he could see glimpses of what was to come, how this would never end, flames rising up to consume a country that did not yet exist, the promise of the power held by the Triforce bringing out the worst in people, making friends attack one another and tearing families apart, how they would meet Demise again, this time with far more power and strength than before, how—and it felt like his mind would split—darkness would cover the land around him, a moon crying as it was brought down to destroy an imperfect reflection of the world, Demise rising from the ashes. But, even as the darkness of the future that awaited him threatened to destroy him, Link could still see the faint glow of hope next to him through it all. Zelda. In every picture, every little moment of what destiny they were now bound to, he could see her standing next to him, taking his hand and giving him the courage to continue even when everything seemed hopeless. And despite how he could not see the end of the images, the destruction repeating in an endless cycle, right then, Link knew that it would be all right in the end. As long as they would face it together, there was nothing they would not be able to do.

So as the light receded in Hylia's eyes, leaving only the pity and apology behind, Link did not hesitate before he shook his head. "Yes, I can imagine it. I can see that my trials during this lifetime have only been the beginning."

"And does it not frighten you? To know that, no matter what you do, it will never be enough to free you?"

Link would have lied if he had tried to claim that there was not a little ball of fear curling up in his stomach, but it was drowned out by the images he had seen of how Zelda had turned towards him in one life time, taken his hand in another, barely known him in a third, and stood by his side in a fourth, all of it making giving her his answer as easy as breathing.

"No," Link said, "it does not. As long as she is here, then I know that I will never be alone." and then, reaching out to take her hand once more, he added. "As long as you are here."

For the longest time, Hylia simply looked at him, and, until she spoke, Link could not decide if the silence had been caused by his answer or rather the way she had taken a step towards him. But as the words swirled around him, making the forest feel warmer, he knew how the answer was that it was not a matter of it simply being one of the two options.

"Then I know that I chose the right person to wield the sword back then. I only wish I could have spared you from this fate."

"Don't. Even if you could change the past, I would prefer for you not to make an attempt." Zelda stirred slightly as he looked back at her, and Link could feel how her grasp around the world they were in loosened a little, Hylia slowly losing her physical form, parts of her hair already flowing through the air, having returned to its original form of pure light.

Still, it did not keep her from gazing directly into his eyes as she spoke. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. As long as she is here with me, I would gladly go through the trials again and again for the rest of my life if it is what it will take to keep her safe."

"Then I will leave you." a shadow of something Link could not define passed over Hylia's face as she almost seemed to float away from him.

It was then, just as the tendrils of light began to twirl around the edge of the glade once more, slowly making her hair dissolve, the hem of her dress following suit, that Link suddenly gained the clarity to step forward, raising his voice to make sure she would hear him. "Thank you!" although she did not say anything, he could see the question reflected in her eyes, so, only pausing for a heartbeat to look back at Zelda, to see how the light was all moving back to her, casting a gentle glow upon her face, Link continued. "I know what I must do now, and that is thanks to you!"

As Hylia looked back at him, the light still floating around her face, Link could not decide where she ended and Zelda began, the two of them seemingly melting together as the light was slowly moving back towards Zelda.

Still, as a thread of light moved through the air, pressing a kiss to his cheek, a touch that held the same lightness to it as the wings of a butterfly, allowing him to catch a glimpse of the last time they had seen each other, how Hylia had held him as his soul had slowly slipped away, Link knew that it was Hylia he waved goodbye to, how it was her voice he heard in the melody that filled the glade, the song almost seeming like it was meant for him and him alone, giving him the message that this, the understanding that let the mysteries that still surrounded Zelda seem almost like they were disappearing in front of his eyes, was something he had caused, something that had been born from the relationship they had shared since childhood rather than a part of the plan Hylia had first set in motion that day all those years ago when he had died for the first time.

And as Link was pulled back through the same void, feeling how the gravity almost seemed to bring him and Zelda together again, allowing him to take her hand, to keep her close as the world changed around him, the feeling of being thrown through the different realities soon being replaced with the softness of his bed and the sound of the birds outside his window, he knew that he had meant every word. As long as he knew it would help his best friend, he was willing to repeat the process a thousand times.

But for now, what he had to do was to make sure that Zelda would be safe from the nightmares that still plagued her even after his own had been relegated to a hidden corner of his mind.

So as he opened his eyes and found that they had returned to the exact moment before Zelda had pulled him in Link already knew what to do, how he should not try to wake her, but instead simply hold her close and whisper how he was right there, that it was over, they had won, and that, for now, nothing would ever threaten them again.

It took a while, but, little by little, Zelda seemed to relax again, a little smile returning to her lips as she rolled around to nestle her head against his shoulder.

As he lay there and watched as the dawn painted the sky outside a multitude of colours, Link knew that, despite the warning Hylia had given him, despite how this would not be the end for them, for him the world might as well have stopped spinning to give them the chance to enjoy that little, perfect moment.


End file.
